America’s Brainiest Cities – In a knowledge economy, we are often told the smartest cities and nations do the best. But economists typically measure smart cities by education level, calculating the cities or metros with the largest percentage of college grads or the largest shares of adults with advanced degrees. Others (like me) do it by charting the kinds of work people do and the occupations they hold, differentiating between knowledge or creative workers and others who do more routine manufacturing and service jobs.

Why “Brain Gyms” May Be The Next Big Business – Back in 2007, Lumosity was a scrappy startup scrounging for seed money. Today, the San Francisco-based company that creates games to make your brain work better is announcing it’s landed over $32 million in new funding.

Journal revamped : ” … the members of the new editorial group … say their task is to produce copy that demonstrates that academics can do more than indulge in prolix, self-indulgent, and jargon-ridden prose that does little for readers’ edification, let alone pleasure.” (The journal referred to:Public culture.)

]]>Friday links – April 27, 2012http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/oWnu3ylr2Lk/
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:00:51 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=28953Continue reading →]]>User experience is not enough - UX designer Whitney Hess. Respect, trust, and support your colleagues or all the super design work is for naught. Adding this to a collection of resources in the LIS Wiki on customer service & feedback (resources are from the all-LIS open meeting/Liaison discussion section last Thursday. Check it out at go/custserv)

Is Siri Smarter than Google? – We are now on the brink of having access to a powerful new tool that will do much of the search and sorting work for us; with far more intelligence and personalization that we have had in the past. Very soon you will find yourself using, on a daily basis, an emerging new technology called an ultra-intelligent electronic agent (UIEA).

]]>April Staff Recognitionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/e42vkETb_mc/
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:32:54 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=28924Continue reading →]]>The LIS Recognition & Recreation Crew is pleased to announce the recipients of the Employees and Crew of the Month for April 2012:

Jack Maher – LIS Student Employee of the Month
Bryan Carson – LIS Employee of the Month
Digital Media Tutors (Ewen Bazirake, Maria Lloyd, James Maru, Cire Sarr, Christian Woolson) – LIS Crew of the Month
The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the LIS Staff meeting on April 18th. Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews at go/nominate! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.

]]>March Staff Recognitionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/FtLiHJDbxSU/
Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:23:15 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=28695Continue reading →]]>The LIS Recognition & Recreation Crew is pleased to announce the recipients of the Employees and Crew of the Month for March 2012:

Andrew Podrygula – LIS Student Employee of the Month
Charlie Conway – LIS Employee of the Month
Information Literacy Assessment Group: Brenda Ellis, Jess Isler, Adela Langrock (Psychology / Planning & Assessment) – LIS Crew of the Month
The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the LIS Staff in-service day on March 30th. Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews at go/nominate! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.

]]>Nominate LIS staff for recognitionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/kaD29Cqka_8/
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:18:39 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=28443Continue reading →]]>Last summer LIS started a program to recognize the accomplishments of LIS staff. Each month we recognize one LIS staff member of the month, an LIS “crew” of the month, and one LIS student employee of the month (see the list of recipients). We welcome recommendations and nominations from all areas of the College. Whether you’ve received exceptional support for a specific project or you want to highlight consistent and reliable service, please take a moment and submit a nomination. Log in and share some details about why the staff member or group deserves recognition: go/nominate. Many thanks to all who have already nominated!
]]>February Staff Recognitionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/YCxLXlBZyD8/
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:41:54 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=28370Continue reading →]]>The LIS Recognition & Recreation Crew is pleased to announce the recipients of the Employees and Crew of the Month for February 2012:

The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the February all-LIS staff meeting (re-scheduled for March 2). Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews at go/nominate! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.

]]>Sign up for LIS Website Testing!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/E9BO92giQA4/
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:21:46 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=28188Continue reading →]]>Students, Faculty, and Staff: Would you like the opportunity to help LIS improve its website and make it work for you?

If you agree to help, we’ll observe and record you performing some tasks on the website.

Sessions will be scheduled from Monday, February 27 through Thursday, March 8 in the Davis Family Library. If you’re interested, please sign up by Thursday February 23rd (sign-ups are now closed), and we’ll respond with a confirmation. Details are below.

The session will take no longer than 45 minutes (15 minutes for explanation and summary, and 30 minutes for testing activities). We’ll ask you to perform specific tasks and we’ll use your responses in our work to improve the site. Your participation will be strictly used within LIS staff and not shared with any outside organization.

Thank you for taking this opportunity to help LIS improve its web presence!

]]>January Staff Recognitionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MiddLibraryInformationServices/~3/RhTGt2KCMZY/
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:51:51 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/lis/?p=27955Continue reading →]]>The LIS Recognition & Recreation Crew is pleased to announce the first recipients of the Employees and Crew of the Month for 2012: